Last month I was shooting headshots for fabulous architects RLB. They also wanted a natural teamshot to use on their global recruitment pages. The image needed to be candid, natural, bright and reflecting the diverse nature of the company. It also had to be cropped wide.

We knew that we wouldn’t have long to actually shoot it as we had a lot of headshots to get done and also we were taking people away from their work. First we found a large communal desk that we knew we could easily fit 4 people around. We also wanted to include windows. However this was a dark December afternoon in London, so I knew I would have to work hard to get it looking bright both inside and out, whilst retaining a nice crisp image. This was made even harder by the ubiquitous poor office lighting.

Here is a phone snap of the space we chose

After selecting the best location I had to decide on the lighting. The examples they had shown me looked like they were all shot in California in Summer, so how was I going to transform this dark London afternoon? Well I started with 4 flashes; 2 at the front, bouncing off the ceiling to light the subjects faces with a broad, soft light, then 2 flashes behind pointing at the walls. These 2 were lighting the background, but I had to be careful they did not reflect in the windows. I fired a few test shots with my helpful stand in model and although the shot looked pretty good, it seemed a bit flat, not like a sunny day in Silicon Valley. This is where a bit of fake sun came in. So I grabbed another flash, positioned it high near the window, the same angle as the sun would come in and I pointed it right towards my subjects. I zoomed the flash in so it was a tight, hard light and I put an orange gel on it to give that warm sunny glow. This light really made a difference and was the missing piece of the puzzle I was looking for. You can really notice it on the 2 people on the right of the image. The shadow cast by the womans hair on her face and the backlighting on the guy.

This snap shows 4 of the 5 flashes I used to light the scene, another was hiding behind the wall on the left.

This is the selected photo straight out of the camera, unedited.

As above, cropped wide.

With basic exposure, contrast and colour adjustments. Notice how dark it is outside.

Photoshopping those windows really made a huge difference, check out how much better and brighter it looks outside.

The final photo. With a bit of tonal correction and extra brushing to brighten the top right corner and darken the bottom left.

I was pretty pleased with the end result and I feel I did well to transform a dark December day and dull office lighting into something bright, sunny and natural.

Aside from all the millions of things you have to think about to organise a good conference and once you have chosen the right photographer, here are a few little tips to make their job a bit easier and ensure you get some awesome imagery:

1. Don’t bother using an app for asking questions. Firstly, they can fail and from experience often do. Also, they can distract the session chair and it doesn’t look good in photos when the speaker is talking and the chair is just looking at their phone. An app also limits audience interaction, so the photographer would not get those cool shots of people holding mics asking questions directly.

2. Make sure projectors aren’t shining on people during panel discussions. Often the tops of people’s heads can be skimmed with the light of the projector. This is almost impossible for a photographer to remedy and looks pretty terrible. Either aim your projector higher or project from behind. If you can't do either of those then prepare a slide with the conference logo in the top half and have the lower half blank. Ask AV to display this slide during panel talks if the above issue arises.

3. Create custom branded items such as toys, goodie bags, gifts, programs. These can make for really cool, quirky shots that do well on social media.

4. Have lots of branding in the form of signs, banners, projections. The bigger the better. Hung just above head height is best. Also, it’s best to give these a matt finish to prevent unwanted reflections.

5. Make stage lights bright. It’s surprising how many venues don’t light their speakers well. The lights should illuminate the speaker/speakers/panel well, but not be so harsh that they squint. This improves photos greatly and if I can shoot without the need for flash it’s even better.

6. Make sure that there aren’t overly distracting items on the podium when people are speaking, eg mics in the way, laptops, water bottles, etc.

7. Seat as much of the audience near the front of the auditorium. If they are too spread out then the venue may look less full in the photos. You may need to rope off areas at the back to encourage delegates towards the front.

8. Give your photographer a good shotlist and itinerary. Best as a printout, as checking apps can be annoying when you are already juggling a couple of cameras.

9. Elevate static videographers on a platform. This will ensure the photographer does not obstruct their line of sight.

10. Feed the crew well! This is something that usually happens anyway at conferences, thankfully. But it can be very tiring shooting a conference and so it’s important to keep the crew energised.

In summary, we live in a visual age, when billions of photos are uploaded to the web every day. Images are vital selling tools and ensuring you have bold, slick photos will help your conference stand out and look its best. I hope these insights of a conference photographer were helpful to you and they help you create even better photos at your events.

Marketforce never fail to deliver a great conference and this years Future of Utilities was no exception. Etc venues St Pauls is a great London conference venue and I always look forward to the bento box lunch (thanks EY)! Here's some of the conference highlights:

Located on Regent Street, The Langham is classical, luxurious and stylish.

8. A Thames Cruise

A really great way to see the sights of London from a unique perspective. Sit down and enjoy dinner, drink and dance whilst some of the worlds most iconic landmarks pass beside you. I loved shooting on the Elizabethan, a beautiful old style paddle steamer.

9. The Natural History Museum

An iconic location. Party with the dinosaurs!

10. Old Billingsgate Market

A large, sophisticated market conversion. The riverside terrace has great views of the Shard.

11. Sky Bar

The Sky Bars modern and stylish interior sits right on top of the Millbank Tower, offering incredible views over the city.

Everyone knows the iconic landmark, but did you know they host events in the high level walkways? They also have a section of glass floor, so if you are brave enough you can stand on it and wave to the boat passengers passing below!

Looking across from one walkway to the other

The view from Tower Bridge

6. The Painted Hall Greenwich

The Painted Hall is part of The Old Royal Naval College, in Greenwich. It is absolutely astounding. Often referred to as "The Sistine Chapel of the UK" words cannot do it justice.

Apigee have partnered with Google Cloud on their "I love API's" world tour 2018. From Silicon Valley to London, New York and then Chicago. I was in London last week to shoot their conference in County Hall.

I often find myself really appreciating interesting talks and debates. I have very broad interests and have enjoyed learning about science, tech, marketing, medicine, and politics as well as motivational talks by specialist speakers. We are living in exciting times, scienctific, technological social and political revolution abound, bringing forth a brand new world. Photographing conferences allows me to bear witness to these developments from the inside, which sometimes feels pretty special.

Amazing displays at The Hunterian Museum

A fascinating historical tour of Manchester Town Hall

2. I love meeting interesting people

Conferences are a great place to meet people who are passionately engaged in their subject. There's always a good buzz. Occasionally a special speaker or VIP guest also shows up.

I have ended up in some great venues over the years in London and all over the UK. Some of the best places my conference photography has taken me include: The houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, The Hunterian Museum, The Crystal, The London Eye, The Churchill War Rooms, The Natural History Museum, The Painted Hall Greenwich, The Royal Pavillion Brighton, Manchester Town Hall, The Emirates Stadium. Attending conferences means I get to go to places I would not have done otherwise, often I might not even know they exist.

Manchester Town Hall

The events space at the top of Tower Bridge

The Hunterian Museum

The V&A

4. I get to participate in fun activities and see great shows

I get to meet some great entertainers, including magicians, musicians and theatrical displays and I always enjoy their shows.

5. I enjoy the shooting style

Each photographer has their own preferred style. Personally I enjoy documentary and location portraiture. Conference photography offers me this opportunity. I even end up shooting a bit of product, interiors, architecture, food, action at conferences.

6. I like the variety

Each conference is different and I never get bored. I am constantly encountering new people, places and subject matter.

Modern conference venue in the heart of The City. Great city views from the atrium.

17. The Churchill War Rooms

This is a bit of a quirky venue for a conference, but there aren’t many places as historically significant as Winston Churchills wartime bunker, where the fate of World War 2 was drawn up. A fascinating place.

There is an amazing amount of top quality conference venues in London, offering a whole variety of styles and catering to a mixture of needs. From luxury classical hotels, to state of the art dedicated conference spaces, from corporate spaces to something quirky. Here is a break down (in no particular order) of my favourite spaces where I have shot conferences. There are so many in London I am going to post this in three parts.

1. The IET: The Institution of Engineering and TechnologyA great venue on the Embankment. Beautifully merging the classical and modern. The roof terrace offers some of the best views in London.

2. Etc Venues County HallInside the Iconic County Hall on the Southbank of the Thames. Plenty of space, nice modern facilities.

3. The LanghamLocated on Regent Street, The Langham is classical, luxurious and stylish.

4. More LondonCutting edge architecture in a great location, offering amazing views of the City and Tower Bridge.

5. Etc Venues BishopsgateBeautiful lighting and clean crisp design in the middle of The City of London

6. The Landmark HotelAnother classic hotel, this time in Marylebone. Extremely spacious, with a large glass roofed atrium.

I had a really great time shooting Lymington's Easter festival "Spring into Lymington", down in Hampshire on Sunday. It was a vintage affair with marquees on the green, egg and spoon race and lashings of ginger beer. It was a shame about the relentless rain, but a great time was still had by all.

I don't actually have any shots of kids on this site (I guess I'm trying to keep it a bit grown up and serious), but I do love shooting children. I am a parent myself, to a 4 year old boy and he is very photographed. Shooting children is hard work, but loads of fun and delivers very rewarding shots that will be cherished for many years to come.

I had the pleasure of photographing David and Meena in Regent's Park. The light was beautiful and the atmosphere of the park was a great backdrop for getting some nice shots of the couple. There were just so many places to shoot there.

I always enjoy shooting business people on location, whether it be in their office, outside around town, or in the clients home. I like the fact that, as a photographer, I have to be versatile and use the location to best effect. There are so many great places in London, we really are spoilt for choice. In my opinion, shooting on location produces more atmospheric imagery than in studio.

How to become a photographer
I get lots of emails from people who want to become my assistant or intern. So, here are some tips for getting started in photography:

The main thing you will need to do to become a photographer is to get a good portfolio together. You will need to work for free to begin with. Local magazines may take on budding photographers, and it can be a great experience as you will meet interesting people and photograph things that you would not have done otherwise. Events like festivals, concerts and street parades are also a good source of interesting photo opportunities. Another good way to build up your portfolio is to do test shoots. You can find models and stylist on www.modelmayhem,com who all want to build up there portfolios too and some will shoot in return for the images.

Try and be as creative and as unique as you can be. It will be this that will set you apart from the rest in a very competitive industry.

Keep yourself inspired. Bookmark your favourite photography websites, trawl through Flickr, buy some photography magazines. Have an inspiration wall, where you can put up work that inspires you.

Learn the technical stuff. Some of this can be done by reading through books, but most of it should be done by just playing around and trial and error. If possible do a short course. Your local studio, community centre or college may offer courses.

Get the right kit. If you want to be a Fine Art Photographer, maybe you should shoot film. If you want to shoot events you will need to be digital. If you want to do fashion, you will need some lights. Just start off with the right camera. Remember it’s not just about how many megapixels you get. Megapixels just dictate how big you can blow up an image. Better to get a camera with a good sensor, which can produce bright, sharp images with good colours. You can search Flickr by camera model to see the different kind of shots people get from their cameras. Also, check out reviews on sites like www.dpreview.com. I wouldn’t recommend buying a used digital camera body, although I have bought used lenses and they have been good and about a third cheaper than new. Having decent lenses is essential. A good lens to start with is something like 24-70mm, then when you can afford it, just build up your arsenal.

Assist other photographers. There’s no better way to learn about being a photographer than being on an actual professional shoot. Start off doing it for free. You will just be carrying, fetching, holding and making tea, but you can learn a lot and possibly lead to opportunities of work in the future.

Get your work out there. Upload your images to Flickr, Tumblr, Pinterest, tag them and send the links out to people. Get a blog. Go on forums. Exhibit.

Get a good website and do some good, targeted SEO. It’s pretty easy to get a good website these days. You can build your own, using online software such as www.electrofolio.com . Try and get your website up the search engines by having a presence on social media sites such as facebook and twitter. You don’t need to pay an SEO company as you can do a lot of it yourself, you will just need to research it a little.

Network with as many other photographers as you can. We are always passing each other work and opportunities. Go to private views, local freelancers groups, or just email local photographers to say hi!

Try and specialise as much as you can. Architectural photography is very different to Sports Photography. You can’t be a master of all trades, so try and find your niche.

Shoot in manual mode at all times.

Shoot in RAW format. Your images won’t be compressed by the camera, like jpegs, so when it comes to editing you can get much better results.

Always backup your work regularly and in separate places, eg. On your computer and also on a removable hard drive. Imagine how you would feel losing your favourite shots forever!

Pick a good editing software. I use lightroom for RAW editing. It’s brilliant, I love it.

Copyright Dan Burman Photography. Dan Burman is a professional London photographer with over a decade of experience as a portrait photographer and corporate headshot photographer, rated 5 stars on google